Oktoberfestalso called Wiesen (German: “greens,” “greens” or “meadows”)annual festival in Munich, Germany, held over a two-week period and ending on the first Sunday in October. The festival originated on October 17, 1810, as a horse race, part of the celebration of the marriage five days earlier of the crown prince of Bavaria, who later became King Louis I, to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. The race was held in an open area that came to be called Theresienwiese (“Therese’s green”). The following year the race was combined with a state agricultural fair, and in 1818 booths serving food and drink were introduced. By the late 20th century the booths had developed into large beer halls made of plywood, with interior balconies and bandstands. Each of the Munich brewers erects one of the temporary structures, with seating capacities of some 36,000–5,000, where they serve a bock beer containing 4. 5 percent alcohol, brewed especially for the occasion. The mayor of Munich taps the first keg to open the festival. Total beer consumption during Oktoberfest is upwards of 5065,000 hectolitres (1,320430,000 gallons). The breweries are also represented in parades that feature beer wagons and floats along with people in folk costumes. Other entertainment includes games, amusement rides, music, and dancing. Oktoberfest draws some seven more than six million people each year, many of them tourists.

A number of U.S. cities, particularly those with large German American populations, hold Oktoberfests modeled on the original in Munich. These popular celebrations, which feature beer and German food, are an attempt to reproduce the Bavarian sense of gemütlichkeit—cordiality.